Judicial Conduct Board

A Feb. 15 editorial attacking the Judicial Conduct Board because it dismissed a complaint filed against Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy casts aspersions, ignores fact, and sadly falls victim to the increasingly common view that everyone's opinion is wrong if it isn't your opinion. The board, like the Court of Judicial Discipline, is an independent body established in 1993 as an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution. Six members of the board are appointed by the governor and six by the Supreme Court; six must be laymen, three lawyers and three judges.

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania's Supreme Court justices showed little sympathy Tuesday for Maryesther Merlo, the Allentown district judge booted from the bench for misconduct last year. They remarked on her frequent lateness and absences from court. "It appears your client got herself elected because she doesn't want to work," said Justice Seamus P. McCaffery of Merlo's 116 missed days of work in 2008 and 2009. They observed the irony of her absence from hearings for students themselves charged with missing school.

Pennsylvania's system for disciplining judges must change to ensure it is independent, accountable and able to protect the public in cases of corruption or misconduct on the bench, a Philadelphia-based court reform group says. Specifically, the report recommended measures to address problems uncovered by a commission created to investigate Luzerne County's "Cash for Kids" scandal. In that case, two Luzerne County judges were charged in federal court with taking kickbacks for sentencing children to privately owned juvenile detention centers.

Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo has been permanently removed from the bench by the state disciplinary court that earlier this year found her chronic absenteeism, tardiness and bizarre behavior were violations of the rules of conduct for district judges and the state Constitution. Removal from office, a sanction handed down to Pennsylvania district judges only five other times in the last decade, is the most severe available in the Court of Judicial Discipline. An attorney who brought the state's case against Merlo said the penalty is appropriate.

An Allentown district judge accused of "nasty, rude, erratic and strange" behavior during hearings in her courtroom has been suspended with pay by the state Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued its ruling against District Judge Maryesther Merlo on Wednesday after an investigation by the state Judicial Conduct Board that alleged improper conduct and repeated absenteeism. In its decision, the Supreme Court said: "In view of the compelling and immediate need to protect and preserve the integrity of the Unified Judicial System and the administration of justice for citizens of this commonwealth, Magisterial District Judge Maryesther S. Merlo is hereby relieved of any and all judicial and administrative responsibilities …" Merlo's attorney, Sam Stretton of West Chester, said he was shocked by the decision.

Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo has been permanently removed from the bench by the state disciplinary court that earlier this year found her chronic absenteeism, tardiness and bizarre behavior were violations of the rules of conduct for district judges and the state Constitution. Removal from office, a sanction handed down to Pennsylvania district judges only five other times in the last decade, is the most severe available in the Court of Judicial Discipline. An attorney who brought the state's case against Merlo said the penalty is appropriate.

A Northampton County attorney has been appointed to the newly created Court of Judicial Discipline. William C. Cassebaum, of Upper Mount Bethel Township, will serve four years on the court, which was created in May by a constitutional amendment approved by Pennsylvania voters. "I'm very pleased," he said in a telephone interview. Cassebaum's appointment was announced yesterday by Acting Gov. Mark Singel, who named three other people to the court and six people to the Judicial Conduct Board.

A Northampton County attorney has been appointed to the newly created Court of Judicial Discipline. William C. Cassebaum of Upper Mount Bethel Township will serve four years on the court, which was created in May by a constitutional amendment approved by Pennsylvania voters. "I'm very pleased," he said in a telephone interview. Cassebaum's appointment was announced yesterday by Acting Gov. Mark Singel, who named three other people to the court and six people to the Judicial Conduct Board.

District Justice Diane Jepsen of Allentown, disbarred as an attorney in November, could lose her judicial post. Citing a state constitutional provision preventing disbarred lawyers from holding judicial office, the Judicial Conduct Board has asked the state Supreme Court to remove Jepsen immediately. But a lawyer representing Jepsen promises to challenge both the attempt to remove her from office and her disbarment. Sam Stretton of Philadelphia said Jepsen may have had problems because she tried to represent herself when she was "disbarred on consent" by the state Supreme Court in November.

State Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen ensnared himself in his own tangled web of deception. He feared that if the press and public found out he was suffering from mental illness that he wouldn't win his retention election in 1987. So he persuaded his personal physician to prescribe painkillers and tranquilizers for him in the name of court employees. Over a period of nine years he obtained 7,509 pills this way. A special grand jury investigating his allegations of wrongdoing by other justices indicted him on drug charges last October.

Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo violated the state Constitution and rules of conduct by disrespecting attorneys, berating defendants and not showing up for work, a Pennsylvania disciplinary court found. Merlo, who has served as district judge in central Allentown since 2004, now faces discipline that could include removal from the bench. The state Judicial Conduct Board filed charges against Merlo in November after a yearlong investigation of complaints against her. The state Supreme Court in December suspended Merlo with pay pending resolution of the charges.

Pennsylvania's system for disciplining judges must change to ensure it is independent, accountable and able to protect the public in cases of corruption or misconduct on the bench, a Philadelphia-based court reform group says. Specifically, the report recommended measures to address problems uncovered by a commission created to investigate Luzerne County's "Cash for Kids" scandal. In that case, two Luzerne County judges were charged in federal court with taking kickbacks for sentencing children to privately owned juvenile detention centers.

— When Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo didn't show up for truancy hearings one morning, dozens of parents and students gathered in the lobby of her center city court grew restless, her former office manager testified Tuesday in Merlo's misconduct trial. "I had a near-riot," said Deborah Stringer. "The vestibule was packed with parents and students and she was really late. " As parents began to rant and rave, Stringer called Lehigh County Court administrators, who instructed her to give the parents the address and telephone number of the state agency that investigates complaints against judges.

Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo will try to correct what her attorney called a distorted picture of her behavior on the bench when her trial on misconduct charges begins Tuesday in Philadelphia. Merlo was charged Nov. 4 with violating the rules of conduct for magisterial district judges and the Pennsylvania Constitution by allegedly arriving late for court or not at all, being rude to lawyers and defendants and making bizarre requirements for defendants she sentenced.

An Allentown district judge accused of "nasty, rude, erratic and strange" behavior during hearings in her courtroom has been suspended with pay by the state Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued its ruling against District Judge Maryesther Merlo on Wednesday after an investigation by the state Judicial Conduct Board that alleged improper conduct and repeated absenteeism. In its decision, the Supreme Court said: "In view of the compelling and immediate need to protect and preserve the integrity of the Unified Judicial System and the administration of justice for citizens of this commonwealth, Magisterial District Judge Maryesther S. Merlo is hereby relieved of any and all judicial and administrative responsibilities …" Merlo's attorney, Sam Stretton of West Chester, said he was shocked by the decision.

An Allentown district judge accused of "nasty, rude, erratic and strange" behavior during hearings in her courtroom filed her response Friday, acknowledging she is "passionate" on the bench but denying she acted improperly. District Judge Maryesther Merlo, through her attorney, also asked a state court to dismiss the complaint filed last month by the Judicial Conduct Board. "The judge at times has strongly felt opinions, but she always exhibited proper and appropriate behavior," her attorney, Sam Stretton of West Chester, said in the filing.

The future was looking bleak for Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo, judging from a front-page splash concerning a 33-page complaint against her — until you got to the story's very last paragraph. It was reported that Merlo had been accused of all sorts of bad behavior on the bench. A complaint filed by the state Judicial Conduct Board said she was "nasty, rude, erratic, strange, bizarre, irrational, unpredictable, yelling, demeaning, babbling, rambling, nutty and crazy.

A Lehigh County district judge should be punished for misconduct that included a push to have his wife appointed to the job, the state Judicial Conduct Board will argue next week. Longtime Slatington District Judge Edward E. Hartman will go before the Court of Judicial Discipline on May 18 in Harrisburg. The seven-judge court has agreed he violated the state Code of Judicial Ethics by engaging in political activity and collecting donations in his office for community groups. The Judicial Conduct Board's chief counsel, Joseph A. Massa Jr., declined to comment about what sanctions will be sought against Hartman, a district judge since 1982.

The future was looking bleak for Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo, judging from a front-page splash concerning a 33-page complaint against her — until you got to the story's very last paragraph. It was reported that Merlo had been accused of all sorts of bad behavior on the bench. A complaint filed by the state Judicial Conduct Board said she was "nasty, rude, erratic, strange, bizarre, irrational, unpredictable, yelling, demeaning, babbling, rambling, nutty and crazy.

Erie-area collar bomb suspect says she has cancer ERIE -- An Erie woman awaiting trial on charges she masterminded a bank robbery plot that ended with a pizza deliveryman being killed by a bomb locked around his neck says she has cancer. Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 61, is scheduled for trial Aug. 30. But she told the Erie Times-News in phone calls from jail that she had a cancerous tumor removed from her neck last month and is awaiting test results to determine the extent of her illness.